AN: Hello loves! The hiatus is quite painful and so I've been trying to make myself feel better by writing stories. I hope you enjoy this one.
One-Shot set right where 3x22 ends.
I'll put my arms around you & make you unbreakable.
She drops his hand and he watches her walk away from him. Her words are still echoing in his mind as her small form disappears out the door.
I'm not giving up, as long as it takes.
It's a different feeling knowing she's not slipping away this time but that she'll be fighting for him instead.
For them.
She was out of sight for less than a minute and he finds his legs are leading him outside right after her. Because who was he kidding? He doesn't need her to prove anything to him, though he's positive he would have greatly enjoyed it. He's known all along that she would come back to him. He knows her better than she knows herself and probably cares to admit. But he's ready now, and she's finally on the same page he's wanted her on for months and he's so damn done wasting time with Zoe Hart.
They've already wasted too much time (too much love).
He catches up to her fast outside, his arm darting out to grab hers and turn her around. Her eyes widen when she sees him, but he knows she must not be all that surprised to see him chasing her down. He's been chasing her ever since she mocked his church social smile.
"Let's go, okay?" He tells her, more than he asks.
She nods and they both get into his car where the backseat is still crammed with plaid filled garbage bags.
/ / / /
They stop at the Rammer Jammer and he fumbles with his keys with one hand as he holds her hand with the other. He leads her inside his darkened bar once he's finally managed to unlock the door. She still has her yellow heels in her hand, he grabs them from her and lets them drop to the ground.
Wade sits on an empty stool and pulls Zoe's body between his legs. He doesn't rush to say anything at first, instead he stares at her standing before him in a dress that is making her look more like a Southern Belle than she probably realizes. He feels her hands come up to play with the open collar of his shirt, her fingers skimming against the skin of his neck. The gesture, though not unwelcome, makes his breath catch a little because it's been so long since he's felt her hands so intimately close to his skin.
His mind wanders to nights spent against chocolate brown sheets.
"Say it again," he finally says, breaking the silence and the flash of memories they might have a chance to finally relive. He realizes he's sounding far more vulnerable than he's been in a while. And he's not afraid to be. She's always been the one to pull that out of him, and he can't help but pull her closer now as he waits for her to talk.
"I love you, Wade Kinsella." Her voice is quiet and sure, and her warm breath ghosts against his mouth and he can taste the cherry of her lips already. "So so much and I'm sorry if -"
He leans forward and cuts her off with the press of his lips against hers, because apologies don't matter at all. He doesn't need them. Apologies would mean she did something wrong and she didn't. He thinks their time apart, no matter how painful, was for the best. He is ready for her now and he knows she won't run this time. That's all that matters.
Her lips are as soft as he remembers them. Her hands are pulling at his hair and everything feels like it did before. He can't seem to understand how they ever let each other go for so long.
Surely, nothing has ever felt as right as this.
"I love you more" he whispers against her lips when they break apart and the way she looks at him like she's surprised he would still after all this time, like he could ever want anybody as much as he wants her forever, makes him wonder how in the hell he ever got so lucky.
He kisses her again.
/ / / /
At first, he wanted to try slow and steady so as to ease them back into being together.
That idea lasted about a week, because slow and steady has never been his style, especially when it comes to Zoe Hart.
He is messy and passionate, and she is infuriating and relentless.
Together they can be anything, but not slow and steady.
Which is why about a week after Brando & Sylvie's wedding he's having a hard time opening the door to his own house because Zoe's lips are attached to his neck and she's doing that thing he likes and - where is that damn handle?
She moves her lips from his neck up to his jaw. Then back down again. He knows she knows exactly what she is doing to him.
"Stop doing that Doc. You're distracting me." He groans and she laughs before reaching down to steady his hand, leading it to the door handle. They push it open together and she steps back into his house. He watches her as she sits on his bed. She pulls her sweater over her head and throws it at him. Wade catches it with a smile and she quirks an eyebrow at him as she leans back against his pillows.
"Well?"
He slowly makes his way towards her and she pulls him down to her with a tug at the chain around his neck. She pushes his shirt off his shoulders; her skirt follows a mere second later. Finally all he feels is her skin against his. She's just like he remembered. Nothing has changed. They love exactly the same.
"I've missed this. I've missed you," she whispers in the dark as his fingers tease the bare skin of her lower back.
He kisses her hard.
His fingers hold on too tight to her hips.
He shows her just how much he's missed this too.
His sheets finally smell like her again.
/ / / /
A year and two months later he finds himself pacing Lavon's kitchen while the Mayor himself cannot contain his laughter.
"Shut up. This ain't funny."
"Lavon Hayes thinks otherwise."
Wade presses his face down onto the cool granite countertop and groans loudly. He's so nervous. What if he messes it up? God knows he's good at that. What if he forgets the damn speech he's practiced about twelve times in the shower (and that's just counting today)?
"Listen man, it's going to be fine. You just need to relax & - "
Both Lavon's and his head snap towards the door when the very reason for Wade's embarrassing breakdown enters the kitchen.
"Hey big Z, we were just talking about you!" Lavon bellows and Wade shoots him a pointed glare.
"Really?" Zoe smiles and makes her way over to Wade, draping her arm around his shoulders and pressing a peck to his cheek. "Hey there," she says and lights up when he looks at her.
"We still on for tonight?" Wade asks her, pushing his plate of untouched pancakes towards her.
"Brick agreed to let me leave early. Which never happens, but I've stopped trying to figure that man out a long time ago, just like I've stopped trying to get you to clean up the gatehouse, which is still gross by the way, but hey I don't care! So yes, of course we are still on for tonight!"
He tries not to smile, because he knows why Brick is letting her leave early. He had to beg the man himself. He quickly captures Zoe's mouth with his because she's too smart not to realize he's hiding something so he has to distract her. Her hands come up to fist the sides of his flannel shirt and she smiles that silly smile when they pull apart and he realizes that there is nothing to worry about.
She's going to say yes.
Later that night, of course she does.
/ / / /
Ask anybody in this town and they'd tell you that receiving an invitation to Wade Kinsella's wedding is something they would have never expected (except maybe for Crazy Earl).
Today, the entire town was gathered to witness bad boy, bartender (bar owner), Wade Kinsella, marry his Lady Doctor.
Wade watches Zoe walk down the aisle, Brick leading her to him, and his heart is beating so loudly in his chest that he can barely hear the music playing in the back. It only beats faster and louder when she's finally within reach and places her tiny soft hand in his rough one.
They couldn't be more different if they tried, except they are also exactly the same where it really matters.
They kiss and she's Mrs. Wade Kinsella and he's the happiest he's ever been. He looks over to his father, his brother and wishes his mother could be standing right alongside them.
/ / / /
The reception is held at the Rammer Jammer. There isn't any other place where they've shared as many memories. Zoe is perched on the bar top as she watches Earl dance with her mom, she can see how happy he is that they are official in-laws.
Wade returns to her side, handing her a plate with a piece of their wedding cake.
"Hey Doc, remember that time you tried flirtin' with me and fell off the bar stool?"
He laughs, loud and unforgiving as usual, and she scowls at him before shoving a piece of cake against his mouth to shut him up, because while they are anything but traditional, she still can't resist wanting to make a mess of his face, especially if he's being his usually annoying self.
"It worked didn't it?"
He grins at her and licks the cake off his lips before pulling her down his bar and over towards the dance floor. He twirls her around and brings her back into the circle of his embrace, making sure to call her Mrs. Doc Kinsella.
/ / / /
By the end of the night, Wade is just itching to get Zoe alone.
"Wanna get out of here?" He whispers in her ear. She looks up at his face and nods and of course, five minutes later, they find themselves in the front seat of his car parked by the side of the road.
Her dress is taking up the entire front seat as she struggles to get the material out of his face. He laughs and now are simply staring at each other in the dimness of the car, both maybe realizing the reality of where they finally are.
He remembers that first night her tiny little body was perched in his lap. Her hands were pointed at his face, telling him to never speak of what had just happened, and all he could do was push her hair back and try to make sense of how alive she had made him feel in those few minutes and how badly he had wanted to keep her right there with him.
"This ain't so bad is it?" He asks now.
"Not bad at all." She smiles.
To think he owes everything in his life to a blown fusebox.
But he ain't complaining at all.
AN: & there it is. I hope you liked it.
I have a couple more stories lined up, though all are unfinished for now. I'm working on it.
Don't forget to review! Feedback makes me smile.